YOU VOTED FOR THIS. STOP WHINING.

Carlo Riverso

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Thanks for this information.

NY has an “Excelsior Pass” with a QR code.

I have mine.

I received a Live Nation update yesterday (March 31) moving a twice moved 2020 James Taylor-Jackson Browne show at Jones Beach from July 10 to August 27.

As for the Infrastructure bill, what I am hearing is White House hopes for passage around Independence Day.

Until I received your email, no knowledge of this passport collusion scheme involving AEG & LiveNation.

I am passing on your email to folks at NYS Attorney General’s office and in Congress.

Best.

-Corey Bearak

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Are people really surprised by this after 911 gave us the patriot act and airport security?

Now a virus will give us vaccine passports and who knows what else.

Todd Fernandez

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Come on “ These states are open for business, they don’t care if you die at a show, you took the risk, don’t ask the government to protect you.”
Take responsibility for yourself and if you are health compromised stay home.  I can’t believe you are going to give up your freedoms with a tracking vaccine passport for a vaccine does not provide immunity!
Mick Barlament

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There will be many who wont take it for religious reasons. Many people wont use they are Republican Trumpers who think life is ‘ fake news’ unless its a full stroke of the dick for them!

Thing its Bob.. there’s no way around it or live biz will never return.

Yes.. the mark of the beast is on us.

Check out what China is up to and was 2 years ago when I was there working. Full face recognition cameras everywhere !

 

One of our drummers Gregg Bissonette had a friend in Shanghai and they were walking down the street and Gregg mentions Chairman Mao and both their phones turned off for 2 days. Others includes -no lights- no credit card to buy food- cant get a flight or gas no one to call to bitch about it and they turn it back on when they think you learned your lesson and … its coming here. Alexa and all that shit is admissible in court so this all makes Orwell child’s play.

Thats what makes the timing of this virus dodgy to me. But .. I will take the shots and pray I dont get ‘ dead arm’ ( bad for guitar players) or worse .. the growth of a 2nd penis and Lord knows the first one got me into enough trouble in my life.

Then if only less than half the people take the virus will it work? You CAN still get it after the shots! Much less likely but…This is not exact science. This is panic science. ‘Hurry UP’ !!!

Praying it works like  charm and all paranoia is for naught. Just keep an eye on patient one with the Vaccine. HOW is HE ( or she) doing???

Be a good time for Jesus AND the Aliens to come. lol

Steve Lukather

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A vaccine passport! Hitler would approve. These are YOUR guys, Bob. You asked “WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT?” Right here!

The people who cried “Keep the government out of our bedrooms!” are saying “Let’s track them! Let’s make a database!”

Fascists.

Jim Edmonston

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Hi Bob, from a fan who understands science and the public health aspect, I don’t have a problem with this. The only way to achieve herd immunity is to break the threshold on numbers vaccinated and if people need to be incentivized (call it bribed if you want), fine. It will protect the artists as well as the venue workers and touring staff. Best part for the fans, if someone won’t do their part to protect other people, they are probably the same person who pushes their way to the front and talks during the quiet parts of a song.

Leigh Caputo

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I got my last dose yesterday.

I laminated a photo copy of my paper card and took a picture of it.  If the evidence they require is that paper card I am pretty sure there will be a whole underworld of counter fit Covid Cards. You just need whiteout or photoshop.

If you really want to go to a show unvaccinated there will be a way.  Personally why take that risk but hey the microchip I recieved feels pretty great. And now they can track us without our phones. Amazing and they just needed to kill 550K in a year to do it.

Adam Bauer

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Trump followers were the ones that were railing against this. your Man Biden is The strawman who doesn’t have a single thought of his own is being run by Facebook, Zuckerberg, Bezos, the 1%
too bad you didn’t see that coming – you voted it in.
Trump supporters weren’t stupid they just believe in freedom. your side is for government & the 1% running everything. Slowly you Democrats will come around and start to see that you made this world what it is.

Marjorie Weir

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Don’t worry your pretty little head about it Bob, you can’t affect change on something this big. Michael and the braintrust in live music world will get it sorted and then let us know how it will be mandated. And as far as the Toxic twins and Santos are concerned, fuck them, this is way above their pay-grade and yours.

Olie Kornelsen

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An absolutely spot on analysis.  As a musician and producer with friends we both know who need those arena show gigs to pay their own bills after a year of no touring income.. this is gonna suck. I guess we have to thank Irving Azoff, Clive Davis, and their greedy ass buddies for this one. They are probably insider trading on this right now with their wall street brokers in bed with Trump and other “special”
Entitled white Americans. But hey, the Trumpers In Nashville are gonna blame this hot mess on Biden not a predictable scientific phenomenon called a pandemic that Trump not only ignored bit took down the infrastructure others had created to deal with the inevitably of nature attacking man to thin the herd.

Keep up the good fight for the rest of us.

Zannman in Minneapolis

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My dad keeps talking about a passport as if it’s something that’s going to be easy because…..”they have to be keeping track of who’s getting the shot”.  I say, dad, they hand you a physical card, there’s no central database of anything involving who’s betting a shot.  You have tens of thousands of places giving shots and there’s zero way any of its trackable.  Not to mention HIPA.  You can’t ask people their medical status correct?  All of a sudden that goes out the window?

Oh the slip side, how about the anti abortion people, who want laws passed to call abortion murder. But on the flip side, stay away from my guns and how dare you make me get a vaccination.

Yea, that’s about it.

Jared Polin

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Bob, I really admire your consistency. These vaccine passports are a half-baked idea at best.

What I want to point out is the arrogant hypocrisy of BOTH the Democrates and the Republicans…well politicians in general.

Democrats want every American to have the vaccine passport; Republicans don’t. Republicans want every American to have a National voting/Federal ID card; Democrats don’t. If this should be done or not is an issue I won’t go into. However, pols are hypocrites, the lot of ’em…Do both or don’t. Not do one and don’t do the other.

As I said, at least you are consistent in your views.

Matt Grandi

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SUCH BULLSHIT! I’ll keep my ass home. I’m not supporting that system.

Amanda Freedman

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Not going to bother to read. Just still waiting on ONE response to the obvious legit question: Are you statists going to mandate them into voting booths or no?

Because clearly if you are you’re being racists (at least that’s what you’ve said historically when we suggest Voter I.D.). And if you aren’t then you’re just admitting that this was never about the virus.

So, which silly answer do you subscribe to preposition mine? Hmmm?

Sincerely,

Extremely Sincerely (because this leftism has GOT to be exposed!),

Brian Mitchell

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Going to a concert is the least of my worries if a vaccine passport takes hold. It’s just a back door to replicate China’s “social score” system.

Andrew Bleke
Atlanta, GA

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I understand your concerns on the logistics of the Vaccine Pasaports,cel phones and all,but BEING CONTROLLED??
If you’ve lived in the Planet, for let’s say, since the beginning of the Century, you MUST know we’re already controlled . Banks, Amazon, Facebook, credit cards,Cel phones,,. etc.. they have all they need.The VP is just one
mote stripe on the tiger’s back… and I welcome it.
It will allow us to travel,be around ” healthy” humans and be able to lead a more” normal” life .. and what’s the big deal ? We have to show ID’s for lots of things… not to mention our regular passports when we travel.
If your concern in reselling tickets.. it’s the buyers responsibility to be able to produce” proof of vaccination “, as when you sell a car, for example, where it is not your concern if he or she has a Driving license, or knows how to drive for that matter.
Si let’s concern ourselves with REAL problems, like those mourning their lost ones, or facing secondary effects, or suffering financial hardships product of this pandemic.

Paul Ehrlich

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I find that I’m hit or miss on how often I agree with your take on things – but on this one about requiring vaccine passports I am 100% in agreement with your take on this. Personally, I am not going to get an experimental drug put in my body, especially when I have already had Covid and came through it quite well and now have the anitbodies. That is a personal health decision, not any political decision. But, my philosophy is to each their own, and I respect those that decide they should get the vaccine for themselves. That is what personal freedom, and personal choice, is all about – what our country was founded upon. We are constantly wiping out free speech now, censorship, cancel culture running rabid, and now we are being coerced as promoters to take part in forcing an experimental drug on our citizens as the only way they will be allowed to participate in any of America’s freedoms and commerce. That is unthinkable. Imagine all the parents out there who aren’t comfortable with their kids getting an experimental vaccine and yet the coercion put on these kids to have to get the shot in order to join their friends at a concert.  I will certainly not be participating in something so morally corrupt. You won’t find enforcing vaccine passports at my events, and if it is forced on me by the industry, well I still have a choice to walk away from the industry to save my self-respect.

Paul Thornton

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I had to cancel 2 mega-festivals in Europe last year because of Covid. While it hurt I was glad to do it. That’s because my first responsibility as a promoter is the safety of my audience and their families and neighbors.  By definition we concert promoters organize events that are potential super-spreaders.  I certainly had planned to require some kind of vaccine passport in the future.  While, for obvious economic reasons, I’m not happy with Michael’s and Anschuetz’ dominance of the concert touring business, their requirement of vaccine passports in order to attend events is the responsible thing to do.

Kind Regards,

Michael Fisher

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You’re sounding like a Republican all of a sudden Bob. You’re freedom…

Danny Jay

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THIS IS GREAT CONVO!!!!

THEY’LL ALL SEE THIS THREAD AND NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!!

Corneilio Austin

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Welcome to the Harris-Biden-CCP Amerika.

Sheryl Peterson

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This is far bigger than concerts! To say it’s unAmerican is an understatement! This is akin ro the social scoring system of the CCP and we’ll NEVER come back from it, Bob. https://youtu.be/pWoDbGNt4wg

Alicin Christensen

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You actually said if people go to shows unvaccinated they could die at the show.

First off the vaccine doesn’t even prevent infection!

You don’t trust Apple to keep your information private?  But you Trust any one of these three Vaccine manufacturers…Pfizer (whose dished out Billions in wrongful death and medical injury lawsuits? Moderna, a company whose never got a vaccine approved to market (this MRNA shot is not fully approved by the FDA) or J&J who had to pull all their baby powder due to asbestos? I mean c’mon man if you can’t see this is an Agenda to further control people’s lives then your deserve to lose your freedom over a disease with a 99+% survival rate. Oh and where did the Flu go this year? The media tells us it’s done 98% ha — complete mockery!

Mark N. Foley

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wtf Bob are u an anti vaxer!? Get the fucking vaccine! Everyone should be vaccinated. Selfish ignorant assholes too!

Owen

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The business world has concerts too; they are called Tradeshows. All of the Tradeshow hawkers are pushing their Q3 and Q4 2021 shows like it was 1999. We have major countries in lockdown, and they just ignore that. We have spikes across the USA, they ignore that too. We have killer variants and undefined vaccine efficacies. All ignored to make a buck. Will the airlines and rideshares require passports ? Will the Tradeshows require them? Are the hospitals prepared for the return-to-work parade ? Will employers excuse their workers with preexisting conditions who are afraid to stand in a booth with the masses? There will be more tussles with freedom fighters and Karen’s on airplanes, groceries and no doubt in the convention centers too. This is far from over.

Micah Sheveloff

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Bob -  I don’t think that LiveNation and AEG, or anyone else should be developing Vaccine Passports.

This is a very frightening slippery slope towards total government control and lack of personal privacy.  Historically, viruses tend to disappear after a couple of years (as with the SARs virus.). Are we going to put a new intrusive system in place now…that won’t be needed, maybe even next year….just to start concerts a little earlier?   We are supposed to live in a country where you are free to go anywhere at any time.   Are we going to create a “caste” system?   Are we going back to East Germany – “In order for you to pass – you must show me your papers?”   That is really frightening.

And what is next – you can’t go somewhere because you don’t have your flu shot…your shingles vaccine…or some other point in your medical history that is now in the hands of the government?

After 911 we lost a lot of freedoms in our country.  This Covid epidemic will pass…and we will be back to normal at some point in time.  We need to be very careful, that we also don’t lose our Constitutional rights to privacy and freedom at the same time.  Vaccine Passports are the first step in a movement towards a real 1984 Orwellian Society.  Wear masks, social distance, get the vaccine if you wish, and let herd immunity build….as it has done with every other virus in our history.

Thomas Earl

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We can’t have vaccine passports soon enough as far as I concerned. They will be our ticket to normalcy again.

Actually, *vaccine passport* is a bad term. Vaccination certification (or verification) would be better. Better yet, in Israel (which is leading the world in vaccination) it’s called a Green Pass. There are some businesses, like restaurants, gyms, cruise ships, movie theaters, … and, yes, concerts, that will never be able to fully recover until people feel safe returning to them. My wife and I haven’t dined indoors at a restaurant or gone to a gym or movie theater or concert in over a year. To reassure their customers (and employees), businesses may want to require that their customers be vaccinated. It’s entirely up to them. Governors ordering *reopening* doesn’t mean customers will return if they don’t feel safe. Last year air travel had fallen by something like 90% before any government restrictions were put in place. The NBA put its season on hold before the first state restrictions on public gatherings. Everyone is free to fly these days. But they aren’t.

By summer, it should be possible for everyone who wants to get vaccinated to do so. (I got my second Moderna shot on Tuesday.) Some form of vaccination certification that can’t be faked would be of great utility. Let the free market flourish. If cruise ship operators want to operate fully vaccinated cruises, let them do it. If the anti-vaxxers want to do their own thing, go for it. (“We’ll always have Sturgis ❤️.”) A Green Pass would allow people to make those choices. I know a couple of prominent restauranteurs who are desperate for some form of vaccination certification. For them, it means FREEDOM … from bankruptcy.

Privacy concerns are bogus. Businesses don’t get your health records. It’s binary – you have or haven’t been vaccinated. Green light, red light. That requires some kind of trusted third party. Ideally, that would be the federal government, but our anti-government ideology runs so deep in this country, we’re hobbled from doing anything like that. It will probably have to be some private sector initiative.

The choice isn’t between returning to normal with a Green Pass or without a Green Pass. It’s between staying stuck in this zombieland or opening back up safely. I can’t wait to get back into a packed, sweaty rock club. But I won’t be going unless the club requires vaccination and has a means of enforcing it. If someone doesn’t want to get vaccinated, they can go to a Ted Nugent concert.

It’s disappointing to see you lining up with the Majorie Taylor Greene’s and Ron DeSantis’s of this world. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about smallpox or polio anymore. I look forward to not having to worry about covid.

Russ Daggatt

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Everyone should be safe and should get vaccinated.

Freedom comes with responsibility as the saying goes. Those republican numb-nuts who still think the virus is hoax, clearly never read the memo that in order to live free they need to exercise responsibility and that means among other things, not exposing friends, family and the public to any viruses they happen to be infected with.

Conceptually, the idea of vaccine passports makes sense. But bigger thinkers than us mere mortals need to work out the logistics to be fair to everyone who exercises responsibility.

The hoops and ‘insider trading’ that AEG and Live Nation put in place are symptomatic of the arcane and crappy backend systems they have in place for ticket distribution. And Tickmaster’s ticketing system is ‘F*@king Crap’ and has been for 40 years. It’s the reason I don’t go to concerts that much anymore: 45 minute processing waits on Ticketmaster just to get dropped and then have to go to the back of the line to start all over again: Exhibit A: the ‘Adele’ online ticket experience in New York.

Your piece on vaccine passports aggravates a deep, festering scab that many concert goers carry with them when it comes to the concert ticketing experience and what follows. There are so many issues to untangle and unpack here. But the big headline is that AEG and Live Nation are NOT in the business of propagating safe live music performances. I’d love to be a ‘fly on the wall’ at a brand purpose workshop or  purpose discussion at these organizations and hear them tie themselves up in knots as they try to hammer out a consumer-driven brand purpose statement. They could start with the concept of ‘frictionless’.

There again, they’re not the type of organizations that would ever take that step or think that way.

Cheers

andy jones

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i don’t know why i’m responding, you think i’m an asshat and you won’t read this. maybe i’l write it to get it off my chest and save it to have on hand for others.

bob, your right but you missed the point.

this is COMPLETELY FUCKING WRONG on a million levels

as a jew this should really fuck with you.

“papers please”

instead of a star on your arm you get a app on your phone

ARE PEOPLE REALLY THIS FUCKING DUMB?!?!?!?

they’r creating two classes of citizens.
people who wanna take part in a medical experiment and those who don’t.
“them” and us.
“they’r” not like us….we’r better then “them”

and the same people still get all insulted by racism and segregation.
fucking hypocritical assholes.

i know you think i’m a piece of shit “conspiracy” guy because i dare to question vaccines but fuck you very much anyway.
if ya wanna find out who rules over you just find out who you’r not allowed to question.

if you wanna go along with the herd and say stupid shit all the time like “speak truth to power” that’s fine but when shit gets weird and billionaires and government get pushy you better have the balls to ask REAL questions and push back or else shut the fuck up bob lefsetz.

traditional vaccines have countless problems. there are plenty of documentaries and books on this topic. get educated.

if you don’t wanna ask tough questions that’s fine, maybe it’s not in your nature, maybe you’r heavily fluoridated and brainwashed, which is fine, you’r not alone.

me? i’d rather have questions that cant be answered then answers that can’t be questioned.

and questions about this CV vax are not allowed to be asked.

that’s what we have here with this ridiculous 1984 nightmare we’r living through because more people who COULD stand up DONT because they’r too afraid or too complacent.
people wonder how the nazi’s got so far…as they roll up their sleeves and do what they’r told. it’s happening right in front of you. THIS is how it happens.

for starters, for the rookies, for the love of god, this is NOT a fucking vaccine!
it’s a gene tool.

as set forth by the US center for disease control and prevention a “vaccine” is defined as;
“a product that stimulates a persons immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from the disease ”
“immunity” is defined as protection from an infection or disease. Which means that if a person is immune they can be exposed to a disease and they will not develop an infection from it.

GOT IT?!?!?

these shots were never even tested to do that and both pfizer and moderna state this CLEARLY!!!!!!!!

it’s NOT A VACCINE!!!
That’s why you still have to wear a fucking mask, fucking gloves and fucking socially distance even after you get the shot.  they were not tested to stop transmission. they were tested to reduce symptoms. mild to moderate symptoms. that’s it.

but paid actors in the media still call it a vaccine and the lie continues to be sold because most, including you, are too clueless to question the TV or the newspaper.

it’s an experimental gene tool.
the FDA currently considers mRNA technology to be “gene therapy”.
and experimental gene therapy at that.
look at moderna’s SEC filing. it clearly states that this is a gene therapy.

now, i’m supposed to participate in gene therapy so i can go hear roger daltry sing “won’t get fooled again”?!?!

i’m supposed to volunteer in a medical experiment so i’m PERMITTED to go see damien marley sing “get up stand up”?!?!

all for a product that was rushed through with a name as utterly moronic as “operation warp speed” !?!
Is this a stupid fucking joke for idiots and retards?

this shot is not even approved by the FDA!
It’s only authorized by a bureaucratic act.

The human trials won’t be over until 2023 and I’m supposed to “trust” the government and the pharmaceutical companies and participate in this experiment now so I can go see music?!

wait a minute, aren’t these the same companies that have paid out billions of dollars in damages for their other failed products, falsified safety studies and suppressed known problems and side effects?

YES!!

And isn’t this the same government that’s constantly lying to the people, coercing the masses and involved in scandal after scandal because of lies, collusion, crony capitalism, and good old fashion incompetence?!?!

YES!!!

what if something goes wrong and I have an adverse reaction? What if it happens in a few years from now and I come down with some weird problem with my DNA or some new unidentified auto immune disease?  what if thousands of others like me get it and we find out the companies knew all along…..can we file class action suit like all the commercials on tv?

NO!!

oh that’s right, everyone involved is completely protected from liability.
hmmm…is that good incentive to make a safe product?

I cant sue the manufacturer of the shot, I cannot sue the doctor, I cannot sue the venue, I cannot sue the government, I can’t fucking sue anyone if anything goes wrong.

Can you think of anyone else less trustworthy to be in charge of your health then the fucking government?!?!
paired with a multi trillion dollar corporation KNOWN FOR DECEIT AND FAILED PRODUCTS??!!!

Are people out of their fucking minds?
does the Nuremberg code mean anything to anyone?!?

You’d have to have your head completely removed from your body and stuffed all the way up your ass to actually think this is a good idea

so now you have a shot that’s so safe people have to be coerced to take it for a disease that’s so deadly you have to be tested to know if you have it.

these are the obvious facts. Nothing that I’m saying should be considered controversial.

these are an academic set of facts that I just laid out in front of you, but i will still be seen as a tin foil hat asshole who doesn’t trust the government because i’m a “conspiracy theorist”.

i love that govt and pharma have a history of fraud, lies and deception and negligence and now it’a a “theory” that they might do it again.
people are so stupid.

well maybe i am wearing a tin hat but at least I won’t be a mutant in a coffin.

this is only happening because people tolerate it and refuse to ask TOUGH questions and demand answers.

I am speaking truth to power!! and i’m in good company.
pete seeger and woody guthrie would be RIGHT HERE WITH ME!!!

i’m ashamed to even be associated with live music. this is a dark day.

this was never about a virus. this is about power, technocracy, control and the great reset.
we’r fucked and few are paying attention.
and that’s how it happens.  maybe they’l let me keep my harmonica when i get to the concentration camp.

Jeremy Backofen

_______________________________________

Wishing this was an April fool’s post!

Joe Kramer

Tom Rush is the original singer/songwriter. Honing his chops in Cambridge while attending Harvard, Tom ultimately got record deals at Elektra and Columbia and is famous for not only his own songs, but for introducing those of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne to the masses. Listen as we hear not only about the history, but Tom’s battle with Covid-19 and the aftermath, as well as what he’s up to today.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tom-rush/id1316200737?i=1000515317307

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast?

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

I’m sick and tired of AEG and Live Nation controlling the touring business. And now, to collude on vaccine passports for live shows, that’s positively HEINOUS!

I mean talk about jumping the gun, Bonnaroo tickets went on sale yesterday, do these outfits really care about ticket buyers? I’d say not. If they did they’d wait until we’re all safe, but there’s no responsibility in America anymore, electric companies can overcharge Texans during a deep freeze and it’s tough noogies, WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT!

I mean this is definitely antitrust, AEG and Live Nation coming together to set policy. Trump famously didn’t apply antitrust laws unless he was settling scores, and the truth is Jared and Ivanka got lifetime all access laminates for themselves and their kids on the way out, as a result of pardoning Lil Wayne, they can go to shows forever, talk about self-dealing.

Yes, just like Zuckerberg and Facebook, AEG and Live Nation were kissing Trump’s butt. Everyone knows Phil Anschutz is a Republican, he calls the shots over there, he got rid of Tim Leiweke, he doesn’t want anything in his way as he runs up the value of the enterprise so he can sell it. And the government moves so slowly, by time Biden’s gang gets up to speed shows will already be happening, it will be too late.

But what really bugs me about these new vaccine passports is their impingement on our freedom. I mean what if I’ve got a passport and I buy a ticket and I want to sell it, do I have the responsibility to find out whether the buyer is vaccinated? Rumors of a national database are rampant, but is it going to be searchable by the hoi polloi, or are we going to have to all be related to Governor Cuomo to get access? That’s what’s been wrong with the entertainment business from day one, nepotism, favors, you either know somebody or you don’t, either you’re sitting in the front for free or you’re back in the nosebleeds where you only know what song is being played after the show, when you look it up on setlist.fm.

So, here’s the story…

You’re gonna need a vaccine passport to go to a live show. Well, AEG and Live Nation’s anyway. And the truth is their tentacles are long. They own buildings and Live Nation’s Ticketmaster arm tickets seemingly every show in America, so…everyone’s gonna have to fall in line, forget being an independent, you’ve got to obey the edict of the big boys, talk about overstepping their boundaries.

So, you can only go to the show if you’ve gotten vaccinated. Rumor has it there will be an exception for country shows, but I don’t believe that, the liability is just too great. Country is an ever-growing slice of the concert business and if you require patrons to be vaccinated, ticket counts are gonna take a big hit. I think they should sign up Hank Williams, Jr. or some other right winger to get the shot and talk about it, maybe that will help, it’s a conundrum.

So, the vaccine passport is gonna be on your smartphone. But, get this, right now the app only works on iOS, not Android, they were talking all about this on Clubhouse last night, which also only works on iOS. So, if you want to go to a show this year, you’d better buy an iPhone, otherwise you’re SOL.

As for the information on said iPhone, Apple says there will be no central database, that they will not keep it on their servers, it will exist on your iPhone only. Yeah, like I believe that.

So, to go to a show it must be two weeks out from the last shot. And to goose sales for slow shows, Live Nation has established a relationship with Johnson & Johnson, the one shot company. If you buy a ticket to a show two to three weeks out, you qualify for a J&J shot.

But what about hip-hop shows? Right now Blacks and other people of color are under-vaccinated. But the truth is it’s the white wannabes who are populating these big arena shows, rappers have been laughing about this for eons.

So, you got the vaccine, you got the app, but the authorization, how you get your completed vaccine passport on your iPhone… It’s gonna be controlled by Ticketmaster and AXS! Ticketmaster’s platform is slow and clunky, no matter what they say, it’s built on spaghetti code, just like Windows. As for AXS…has anybody ever really used it? But, there is no truth to the story that they’re getting money from the government to do this, at least that’s what I’ve heard. But maybe it’s buried in the new infrastructure bill, if so, it’s got to pass before show season begins.

So, if you’ve got a vaccine passport, you can go to a show. If not, you can’t. The toxic twins, Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott, are up in arms about this. They’re talking about a state law that bans the necessity for a passport in the Lone Star State. And I heard they’re pulling Ron DeSantis in too. These states are open for business, they don’t care if you die at a show, you took the risk, don’t ask the government to protect you.

But to satiate these naysayers, Michael Rapino has said he will sponsor a Proud Boys gig at Jerry Jones’s AT&T Stadium. The music will be provided by Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, the Proud Boys promise a stadium wide mosh pit, and if you injure a security guard, you get your money back.

The amazing thing is how little publicity this story has received. “Billboard” is child’s play, and “Rolling Stone” is behind a paywall and no one seems to know yet, but they will.

If you buy a platinum ticket, of course your vaccination is free, they come to your house to administer it. And, if you paid for the shot(s) previously, you’re reimbursed, got to keep those high flyin’, overpayin’ customers happy.

But I don’t see why they don’t require vaccination passports for food service and merch people… The little guy, always screwed in America, on the front lines serving the rich, income inequality’s a bitch.

And the acts themselves don’t have to be vaccinated either! Unless it’s a festival. Yes, we all know the acts call the shots in the live business, if you don’t pay them someone else will, so you’d better cater to their demands. But the promoters have the power at festivals. The loopholes in this plan are endless I tell you!

If capacity of the venue is under 500, a note from your doctor will get you inside, you don’t need a vaccine passport. Insane!

And this talk about letting social media stars in for free, since acts are now broken on TikTok and the like? That’s ridiculous. These “influencers” are already cleaning up at the trough of Madison Avenue, they need no more incentive to whore themselves out.

Also, Amazon is finally entering the ticketing sphere, since it’s got the number one e-commerce platform, both Live Nation and AXS have dedicated 10% of the tickets for every show to Bezos’s platform. I say if Amazon doesn’t unionize, they should pull back from this. But since Bezos is involved with Patrick Whitesell’s ex, Ari Emanuel has been trying to keep the flames down, they don’t want any blowback while they’re trying to go public, even though they’ve now aligned with a SPAC to do it (not Edgar Bronfman’s new one, no). And knowing WME, who knows, they might even try to sell NFTs to raise the money. But Geiger’s now gone, so so is the cutting edge innovation. Then again, seemingly all of Marc’s cutting edge projects fail. Heard of any independent venues taking his money?

This whole project has been mismanaged in my mind. Once again, there was no media coverage, we were just delivered the result. They did not call Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene for their input, but they might as well have, this vaccine passport system is ludicrous, it’s unfair, it sounds like it escaped from the MIT Media Lab, it couldn’t possibly be created by Marciano and Rapino, no way.

But this is the new world we live in. Everybody’s so amped up to go to a show that they’ll put up with any rules just to be able to hang with their buds and shoot selfies. You think it’s about the music? Half of these newfangled acts mime anyway!

As for the older acts… They’re not going out. The Stones, the Eagles, they’re still afraid of the virus. They might do streams in the interim, to keep the public hungry and attentive, but the prices they’re talking about…the Stones are gonna use flex pricing, for a STREAM?

I don’t know where the first show under this new rubric is gonna happen, but it’s definitely gonna be in a blue state, the red states have no money, except for that which they get disproportionately from the federal government, their constituents are all on Androids, never mind different iterations of the operating system, that’s one of the reasons creators launch on iOS first, you only need to write the app once. And, of course, everybody knows that’s where the money is, with the iPhone owners.

I’m apoplectic. These wankers, the aforementioned Marciano and Rapino, cooked this up without getting everybody’s take. Shouldn’t the indie acts have had input? They’ve already been screwed by Spotify, now they’ve got to kowtow to the biggies’ concert restrictions?

I can’t wait for Universal to finally go public and buy one of these outfits, so Lucian Grainge can get the trains to run on time, where they’re supposed to go. But can Universal afford to swallow Live Nation, with its $18.5 billion market cap? A better fit would be AEG, Phil’s got to wake up and realize he’s never going to get his number and he should make a deal soon, before Biden raises taxes, after all Paul Simon got the memo, on vacation with Bob Dylan in Tierra del Fuego, yes, a G650 can make it there without a stop, and the two stars have chipped in on one, their own private NetJet arrangement. As for the location… It’s just a jump to Antarctica, where no vaccine passports are required, since everybody wears a mask, or its equivalent, and bats may have passed Covid, but there’s no evidence the penguins have it.

This is IMPORTANT, since most acts make all their money from touring these days. Michael Rapino is the most powerful person in the music business, and now that he’s got Jay on board, it’s an unstoppable juggernaut. That’s right, while everybody was focusing on Spotify, it all became about live. This system just won’t work, it’s unfair, it must be changed before shows play. I mean really…maybe the Grammy organization, or even the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, can get involved and shed light on the whole affair, transparency is everything, right?

WRONG!

There’s nothing here.

Today it was announced that Apple invested $50 million in UnitedMasters. That’s like you or me going to 7-11 and buying a Twinkie. This is how the rich get richer, they invest in a zillion companies and if one becomes successful…

Same deal with Alphabet and Andreessen Horowitz. You want chump change, you want to hook us up with the players, give us access, give us opportunity with incredible upside? Why not!

But what do we actually have here?

UnitedMasters has been in business in excess of three years… What have they accomplished? NOTHING! How do we know this? Because if you have any success you tell everybody you know about it, you get your publicity team to spam news outlets and we’re all inundated with information we can live without that does not move the needle. But UnitedMasters? Not a peep!

So what do we really have here…

A glorified TuneCore and CDBaby, a way to get your music on to streaming services where it will likely go unheard, WHOO-HOO! Also, there’s a promise that you might get your music hooked up to an ad campaign, on a TV show… That paradigm has riddled the web for two decades now, give us your money and we’ll give you false hope. Then again, there’s a free tier on UnitedMasters, but that’s really only for the true amateur, someone who believes they’ll get no traction, otherwise why give up 10% instead of just paying a once a year fee of $59.99?

I’m sick of people giving hope to the wannabes, giving almost nothing in return other than a promise, a key to the lock of riches, which is rusty and doesn’t work anyway, you’re better off trying to 3D print your own.

That’s right, there’s no easy way to make it in music. There’s certainly no easy way to sustain.

Sure, you could get lucky. Have a clip on TikTok, or YouTube, even get on a playlist at Spotify. But then what? CRICKETS! You see it really does depend on talent, and not only that, but hard work and perseverance, and most people lack all three. But since the barrier to entrance is so damn low in music, people are climbing over it to clamor for attention and after spending money find out no one cares.

Used to be train-wreck publicity could work. But now people are constantly pulling these stunts on platforms all over the web, so if all you’ve got is a story, you’ve got nothing. Don’t get locked into the old game, thinking virality is just a click away and you’ll be in everybody’s hearts and minds forever after. That doesn’t even happen for the big boys and girls, that’s one of the reasons the Grammy ratings sucked, FEW CARE! If nobody cares about the supposed stars, trying to spam their way into our hearts, what are the odds for you? VERY LONG!

We don’t need UnitedMasters, we need one manager/company providing three to five great acts, ONE! That’s the way you beat the big companies, not with a smorgasbord of crap. One could say UnitedMasters is getting a first look, but if you happen to have any success, someone else will scoop you up, one of the majors, unless you want to go it alone.

Which is why we need the aforementioned innovative company/manager. Artists need help, from people, not platforms. Those willing to invest in new and different music, who are not inured to the old ways. Come on, sign to a major label and they’ll get you on radio, TV and in print, maybe sync a song or two to some TV show or commercial, and that’s IT! The same pre-internet paradigm they’ve been relying on forever. As for advertising, Netflix and its competitors don’t have it. The target market hates ads, why do you think that’s an in, a road to possible success?

It starts with the music. Ignore the penumbra. Today all the wannabes are business experts, complaining about streaming royalties when they’re getting none, because no one is listening to them. Where are the people focusing on music? And I’m gonna let you in on a little secret…if you release great music there are tons of ways to make money, sure, you could still be ripped off by a manager or label, but the cash will flow. Today there are more avenues of exploitation than ever before, but the inert, irrelevant news media keeps printing the story of supposedly inadequate streaming royalties. Let me ask you, if I declare myself a baseball player should the MLB start paying me? Case closed.

As for Apple… They know the score, they’re never going to invade the majors’ turf. And forget new music, the majors’ leverage is based on their catalog, which they own until the end of copyright. Apple needs the majors, they’re not going to cross them.

As for Andreessen Horowitz and Alphabet… These people are entertainment ignorant. They think it’s all about money when in truth it’s all about people. And not the people they know, who show up to work on time and deliver on a predetermined date, but free-spirited artists channeling God who will deliver when they’re inspired, and you’ve got to wait for it. Music companies are about marketing, not creation. If anything, you could say that when they get into creation they ruin it. Yes, it’s labels demanding hits that result in us having these tracks with twenty writers and features, which are remixed to death. They’re trying to buy insurance, and there’s no insurance in music, NONE!

Could Apple, Alphabet and Andreessen Horowitz ultimately make money on their investment? Sure, that’s why they call it an investment! Hey, want ten bucks for your lemonade stand? Send me an e-mail with a business plan, I might go for that.

Or maybe I’ll create a SPAC, like the bozo business wannabes. Do all these entertainment big swinging dicks, and they’re all male, really think Wall Street is so easy that they can just run in and scoop up money? While they’re at it, why don’t they say they should head engineering at a tech company! Why is it everybody in America believes they can do everything, when this is patently untrue.

As for Steve Stoute… He made his bones in advertising. Now he can pick and choose acts to fill slots. But the truth is, the companies want names, or they want to pay bupkes.

Then again, Jay Z laid off the moribund Tidal on Jack Dorsey.  And what did all the news reports say? THE MONEY WAS A DROP IN THE BUCKET! Maybe Steve will be able to unload UnitedMasters on a deep pocket mesmerized by the entertainment business, if so, more power to him. But this distribution paradigm is not new, and we are not living in the aughts, it’s no longer about tech innovation, BUT THE MUSIC ITSELF!

But that’s a lot harder to do, especially if you’re a business person.

Come on, how many songs are hits?

Scratch that, how many songs do you want to listen to? If I told you you had to listen to a complete Spotify playlist without a skip option you’d go insane, or turn it down and let it play in the background.

We all want just what we want exactly when we want it. And we don’t want most things. Including UnitedMasters.

I rest my case.